The Dust Did Roar

In the Beginning, they said
there was nothing.

To me, the Universe was
born with your smile. 

René said she strode
from my own mind.

Now she is gone, 
playing in another’s Dreams.

Albert wrote that days
would quicken at her approach.

Yet it always feels
like Twilight in her absence.

Isaac decreed my walls
would fall at her gaze.

But her scent,
would lift me to the Heavens.

Kurt showed not even
the great sage can know all.

Deep within her eyes,
I could swim within Eternity. 

Stephen pictured the darkest
corners filled with light.

In my heart, only the
Ghost of her radiance remains. 

Edwin observed, 
the fleeing of the stars.

Like her laughter, 
an Echo slowly fading away.

Niels measured the
distance between things.

Now I know why
her Touch felt so soft.

I had the idea for this poem while I was dating someone. It was a super nerdy expression of devotion. But before I could actually write it down, the relationship ended abruptly. Several months later, I decided to create the poem anyway, thinking it might help me find some sort of answer. But as I began to write the first words, it quickly evolved into something very different to my original idea. I had changed as a person therefore, the poem had to change with me.

In some ways, I am sad that I never wrote that original version. But if I had, the version that you see above would never have existed. The title ‘I Know They’re Wrong’ doesn’t make sense for the poem as it is today, but I decided to keep it as a way to honour that version of me that had the original idea. Me before the heartbreak.

Art changes over time. Despite what we may think, it’s never static. One of my favourite books when I was younger was the Earthsea Trilogy. It depicts a fantastical archipelago of islands containing dragons, wizards, and shadowy demons. The original three books were written between 1968 and 1972 by Ursula Le Guin. Years later she decided to revisit the world of Earthsea, largely because of the criticism the male-oriented nature of the first trilogy received. As a response, she wrote the novel Tehanu, a deeply reflective book on the place of women in society. She later wrote the final book of the Earthsea series, The Other Wind, which upended the very concepts the original novels were based on.

By the final lines, I found the world that I loved as a child far richer than I could have imagined before and I only wished that I could express my gratitude to Mrs. Le Guin for allowing me to join her on this journey.